


Holmes, MD

by MoonRiver



Series: Amelia [10]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Children, Family, John Has a Daughter, M/M, Parentlock, Sickfic, apart of a series, but standalone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2015-04-22
Packaged: 2018-03-25 05:06:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3797836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonRiver/pseuds/MoonRiver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What's a consulting detective to do when he's looking after a sick girl who doesn't want to take her medicine? He plays doctor, of course!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Holmes, MD

**Author's Note:**

> This is for all the parents out there who have fought with their kids over taking medicine! (god knows I never wanted to LOL) If you're new to the Amelia series don't worry, all you have to know is John has an adorable daughter named Amelia and Sherlock is helping to raise her. And they're in love (John and Sherlock, that is!) If you want to know what happened to Mary in this series, though, I don't want to spoil that for you!

Sherlock’s heart broke as he heard the round of coughs that came from four-year old Amelia’s room. She had been complaining of having a sore throat and a stomach ache, but he and John didn’t realise just how sick she began having coughing fits all night. Though she had no fever John still worried of an infection, like bronchitis, but nevertheless the doctor had a full schedule of patients at his practise and couldn’t miss work. The consulting detective insisted that he could take care of a sick child and ushered John off to work, but two hours later Sherlock felt helpless.

Gently, he knocked Amelia’s door and pushed it open. John’s daughter was curled into a ball on her bed, faced away from the door, with her arms wrapped around a Minnie Mouse stuffed animal. She was actually completely surrounded stuffed Disney characters. They kept her safe at night, kept her company during the day, and if they were making her feel even slightly better right now, Sherlock wouldn’t dare move any of them.

“Amelia?” He called. She simply coughed in response. “I brought you some toast. You need to eat something.”

There was a groan of protest from the bed. The stuffed animals shifted as Amelia rolled over to glare at him.

“I don’t wanna,” she shot in a hoarse whisper.

“It will make your tummy feel better if something’s in it,” he promised.

For a split second she stared at him with interest, considering that maybe he knew what he was talking about, but then she rolled back over. He let out a sigh as he sat down on the edge of the bed and placed the breakfast plate on her nightstand. Reaching over, he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she ignored him.

“I need to take your temperature,” he announced, trying not to sound too apologetic.

“No!” Amelia cried. She broke into more coughs at the effort, and he spotted a single tear falling from her eye. He tried to remind himself of how young she was and how scary it was to be sick when you’re that young. “Daddy said no fever!”

“Daddy also made me promise to check your temperature every couple of hours,” he said. “It’s really important.”

Amelia let out another cry of protest and buried her head in the pillow.

“No temp-ture,” Amelia said. “No med-cine.”

He paused, knowing he couldn’t lecture a sick child. He rubbed his hand against her back, trying to remind her that he was there for her. He was on her side.

“If you do develop a fever it’s important to make sure you get treated for it quickly.”

That didn’t seem to scare her enough. As he gazed down at the little girl and saw how she shook ever so slightly as she cried, he began to wonder if something else was wrong. He thought back to all the other times she was sick, when John would stay home with her all day. His partner would tend to her every need, give her medicine himself, and even stay in bed or on the couch with her if she wanted. Amelia didn’t seem to want any of that with him.

“You know I love you, right?” He asked her quietly. _I love you like you’re my own daughter_ , he wanted to say. She nodded but still wouldn’t look at him. “I want you to feel better just as much as Daddy does, and just as much as you do. Will you let me help you?”

At last she rolled back over to him. She stared him right in the eye, and in a tiny, pained, voice said:

“But you’re not a doctor.”

Sherlock actually let out a small laugh. He couldn’t help it. He wasn’t laughing at her but at himself because he had thought way too much about this and had missed the obvious. It wasn’t that Amelia loved him any less…she wanted her daddy because he was a doctor! Amelia knew her daddy was an excellent doctor, and she knew doctors were people who healed people.

Not consulting detectives.

“No, but my partner is,” he said. “I love him very much, and I’ve learned a thing or two about being a doctor.”

“Really?” Amelia asked.

She sat up in bed, coughed into her arm, and looked up at him, curious.

“Oh yes,” Sherlock replied, eyes twinkling. “All that running around your dad and I did left me with my share of cuts and bruises. Not to mention anytime I got sick your dad was the first one to make sure I stayed in bed and drank plenty of liquids. I can show you some of what he taught me, if you’d let me.”

Amelia stared at him, doubtful, but after a long moment of silence she nodded. With a smile he stood and quickly retreated to his and John’s bedroom, where his boyfriend kept his medical kit under the master bathroom sink. When he returned he was pleased to see that Amelia had taken a few bites of the toast. He instructed her to drink some water as he sat down and opened the bag.

First he took out the knee-hammer thingy John always kept in the bag. Amelia giggled when he tapped her knee with the instrument and, sure enough, her leg popped up.

“That’s good,” he said, trying to sound professional and confident. “Can I listen to your heart?”

She nodded eagerly. He smiled as he put the stethoscope against her heart and listened to the gentle _thump-thump-thump-thump_ of her heartbeat. He could never grow tired of hearing her that sound. He still remembered the first time John and Mary took him along to a doctor’s appointment so he could hear their baby’s heartbeat for the first time, and it was like…it was like he was really experiencing life for the first time. The experience completely changed him: he realised that soon he would be introduced to this little human, this human who would look up to him for advice and depend on his help. Since Amelia was born Sherlock felt like a different person. His new life with her and John just made him feel…well, it made him feel whole.

“Can I listen?” She asked quietly.

Amelia loved to listen to her heartbeat as much as Sherlock and John did. When John first let her hear her heart with a stethoscope for days she would sneak into his medical kit, nick it, and listen to her heartbeat. Then she would run up to Sherlock and John and tell them she needed to make sure their hearts were okay too.

A grin spread across the little girl’s face, and her eyes lit up as she heard those steady thumps.

“It sounds good, yeah?” Sherlock said as he placed an arm around her shoulders. “Your heart is strong and healthy, just like you.”

“But I’m sick!” Amelia whined.

“Your heart is strong enough to keep you going even when you are sick,” Sherlock explained to her. “That’s why you should always take care of it.”

A pang of guilt hit him as he thought about his years of drug abuse and smoking. He hated himself for it now, knowing that his body would pay for it even all these years later.

“I gots to eat veg-ables,” Amelia said. Sherlock nodded, and she took the stethoscope away from her heart and held it to his. He smiled again, wondering what was going through her mind as she listened to his heartbeat. “You sound like _you_ need more veg-ables.”

He laughed and playfully shot:

“Oh so you’re the doctor now?”

“The doctor’s daughter,” Amelia grinned.

She laughed as she took the stethoscope from her ears and placed it back in his lap. It was a relief to see that her spirits were up, at least for now. It was hard seeing her in so much pain when she was usually so full of energy, full of life.

He took out the thermometer, and Amelia squirmed. Sherlock could understand why: John usually gave her medicine following taking her temperature.

“I don’t want med-cine,” Amelia pouted. “I’ll eat veg-ables but no med-cine!”

Considering how much Amelia hated eating vegetables, it was actually a decent offer, but he knew John would kill him if he accepted it.

“That’s a tough offer, but the medicine will help you feel better faster,” he explained. “Now come on, let me take your temperature.”

At last she let him, and all that protesting boiled down to less than a minute of temperature testing. He was relieved to see that she still had no fever. Nevertheless, John had given him clear instructions on when to give her another dose of medicine, and Sherlock knew he couldn’t go off-schedule.

“No!” Amelia cried, her voice breaking as she rolled back around and buried her face in the pillow. She began squirming and crying as soon as he took the cap off the children’s cough medicine bottle.

“It doesn’t taste _that_ bad!” He insisted.

“No!!!”

“Amelia, you’re a big girl. You can handle a dose of cough medicine.” She seemed to quiet down at that, but she still refused to look at him. “Daddy will be proud of you if you take it, but he’ll be sad if you don’t and get sicker. You don’t want to get sicker, do you?”

Amelia sniffled and shook her head.

“Look at me,” he said. She finally turned toward him again; tears still ran down her face. “Your dad trusted me to give you this medicine. Would he ever want me to do something that would hurt you or make you uncomfortable?”

She shook her head again.

“I’m like his doctor’s assistant while he’s away. He trusts me to take care of you, and I know if you trust me to help you, you’ll feel better real soon.”

“Doctor Sherlock,” the little girl replied with a small smile.

“Yes,” he grinned. “Doctor Sherlock. Now please, Amelia, will you let me give you this cough medicine?”

At last she let out a dramatic sigh and nodded. She sat up while she poured the dose into the little cup. When he lifted it to her lips she closed her eyes tightly, and he got an idea.

“Pretend like this is ice cream,” he suggested.

Her eyes shot open.

“Ice cream!” She cried hoarsely. “Can I have some? Pleasseee?”

He really should have known better than that.

“Ice cream won’t help you feel better, this will. Just one sip and it will all be over.”

“Fine,” she sighed and closed her mouth again.

Amelia swallowed the medicine in one big gulp. She scrunched up her nose in disgust and gagged. Quickly, he reached for the water and lifted it to her lips so she could take a few sips.

“Okay?” He asked her. She nodded. “See, that wasn’t so bad!”

She glared at him, and he knew she really did think it _was_ that bad.

“Can I get a hug?” He asked.

She hugged him, and he let her rest her head on his shoulder for a long moment.

“I hate being sick,” she mumbled.

“I do too,” he replied. “And I hate seeing you being sick, but you’ll get better soon. Why don’t you get some rest, and before you know it Daddy will be home.”

Her eyes lit up again.

“Daddy will be home soon?!” She asked.

“He will be here before you know it,” he promised.

Sherlock planted a kiss to her forehead and lowered her back into bed. He carefully tucked her in, making sure to put all her stuffed animals back into their exact spots. She held onto Minnie tightly and gave him a small smile.

“Thank you, Doctor Sherlock,” she said softly.

“You’re welcome, Miss Amelia.”

He smiled at her before he shut the door and quietly stepped down the hall. In a way it pained him to see her long for her father’s attention so much. Sherlock knew it wasn’t fair to be jealous- after all John was her flesh and blood. There was just something about that father-daughter bond she and John had that was just so special, so unique, and so powerful. He respected it, and yet he envied it.

Nevertheless today was a milestone. He’d successfully managed to take care of a sick little girl all by himself (without phoning for help!) and she had trusted him enough to look after her.

“Doctor Sherlock,” he muttered to himself.

A smile slipped across his face as he entered the restroom to put away the medical kit and wash his hands.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I would love to know what you think! I'm working on a certain Amelia prompt on the side, along with Not Just Biology. This was just an idea that popped into my head so I had to write it! If you have an Amelia prompt, I'd love to hear it!


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